(FeaturedNews.com) – The Detroit Pistons have fired Monty Williams after making him the largest head coach contract in NBA history.
A little over a year ago, the Detroit Pistons signed a six-year deal with Williams worth $78.5 million. On Wednesday, they sacked him after the team experienced an NBA-worst 14-68 that included a record 28-game losing streak.
However, despite the team’s dismal performance and Williams’ firing, the former head coach will be owed $65 million over the next five seasons, as head coaching contracts are guaranteed.
In a statement announcing Williams’ exit, Tom Gores, Piston owner, thanked the former head coach for his “hard work and dedication,” while admitting “decisions like these are difficult to make.”
Gores added that despite the “dynamic challenges” of coaching that emerge throughout the season and which Williams “handled… with grace,” the team would be charting a “new course.”
He noted that the organization had an “unwavering… commitment” to bringing a “championship-caliber team to Detroit,” and would be “diligent and swift” in the search for a new head coach to lead its young team and to build a “best-in-class front office” that would help the Pistons “achieve sustainable success.”
For back-to-back seasons, the Pistons have owned the NBA’s worst record. Last year, they went 17-56.
The Draft Lottery only dampened their chances of success when it didn’t work in their favor for consecutive years. In 2023, Detroit received the fifth selection, missing out on Victor Wembanyama, and received the fifth selection again this year.
Williams has had a wild ride in recent years. In 2022, while with the Phoenix Suns received the Coach of the Year Award, a year after the Suns went to the Finals. But the team canned him in 2023.
At the Pistons, Williams couldn’t turn things around for the team, who hadn’t won three games in a row last season and failed to do so this season. He also couldn’t stabilize the team’s roster. During the season, the Pistons had 36 different starting lineups and used 31 different players. By the end of the season, the team had lost 39 times by double digits.
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